ElectricSteve writes: Researchers at MIT have found that using specially treated thin layers of carbon nanotubes in batteries can boost the amount of power delivered per unit of weight by up to ten times. While the technology still needs improving, its full development and large-scale employment would certainly revolutionize the way we use any electronic devices, from an iPod to an electric car. The electrode was fabricated with a layer-by-layer technique in which a base material is alternately dipped in solutions containing specially treated carbon nanotubes to either have a slightly positive or a slightly negative charge: when layers of the two kinds are put together, the opposite magnetic forces pull the parts tightly together, self-assembling an electrode that is porous at the nanometric scale and doesn't seem to deteriorate at all as the battery is subjected to over a thousand charge-discharge cycles.